Oversight committee defers call for VFA abrogation

Congress has decided to defer its efforts to terminate the Visiting Forces Agreement (VFA) between the United States and the Philippines following assurances from the Americans they would cooperate on the issue of custody for the US servicemen accused in a rape case.

The decision came after members of the Legislative Oversight Committee on the Visiting Forces Agreement (LOVFA) visited the four accused US servicemen inside their quarters at the US Embassy in Manila yesterday.

LOVFA co-chairwoman Sen. Miriam Defensor Santiago said US Embassy Chargé d’Affaires Paul Jones assured them that the Embassy has informed the State Department in Washington D.C. about the sentiment of the Philippine government for custody of the accused.

"Mr. Paul Jones told us today that they are willing to talk to (Foreign Affairs) Secretary Romulo and that there would be no delay," Santiago said yesterday.

Santiago was referring to the diplomatic efforts being undertaken by the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to secure the custody of the four accused.

The DFA has so far sent two notes verbale to the US government to request for custody of the accused.

According to the DFA, the first request was rejected and that there has yet to be a response from the US government on the second note verbale.

Cebu Rep. Antonio Cuenco, co-chairman of the LOVFA, said that with the lifting of the arrest warrants against the accused, the embassy gave assurances that the four would be present during the court proceedings.

Sen. Richard Gordon said that the embassy also told them that the accused would be present in all of the occasions they would be needed until the resolution of the case.

The two sides also agreed that the renegotiation for the VFA would take place after the trial, which is expected to be finished within the year.

A renegotiation is being sought by the Philippine government in order to pave the way for an amendment of the VFA to clear up, among other issues, the custody of US servicemen who have committed a crime.

"I think six months is reasonable. After the six months, the LOVFA will meet on this particular issue," Santiago said when asked about when the renegotiations would take place.

"We have decided to give Secretary Romulo more time to pursue his diplomatic initiative because Representative Cuenco and I agreed that it is essential, it is imperative for a country to present always a united front in international relations," Santiago said.

Cuenco, for his part, clarified that the LOVFA has not withdrawn its previous position asking the Americans to renegotiate the VFA but rather to defer action on the matter.

LOVFA members who visited the embassy yesterday said the four servicemen were being held inside a small building within the Embassy compound and were only allowed to go outside for some exercise.

Santiago said that Jones used the lack of a provision in the VFA about automatic custody of the accused to the Philippine authorities as a defense for the present arrangement.

Meanwhile, Olongapo City regional trial court Judge Renato Dilag, who is presiding over the controversial Subic rape case, is scheduled to issue a resolution today to address the motion filed by the prosecution to re-include driver Timoteo Soriano Jr. among the accused.

Soriano, who drove the van where the rape allegedly took place, was included as co-accused in the prosecution’s resolution indicting the four US Marines, but Dilag had dismissed Soriano after noting that the driver was not cited in the complaint filed by the victim.

"We found merit in the motion by the prosecution to reconsider Soriano’s dismissal, so after giving Soriano’s counsel 10 days to submit his comment or opposition, we shall now resolve the issue," Dilag told The STAR.

"The court will either deny or grant the prosecution’s motion," he said.

Dilag is also set to hear today an omnibus motion filed by City Prosecutor Prudencio Jalandoni to reconsider the court’s Jan. 26 order setting the arraignment of Lance Cpl. Daniel Smith and setting the case for continuous and reverse trial.

The court had previously recalled the warrant of arrest issued against the Smith and his fellow-accused — S/Sgt. Chad Carpentier, LCpl. Keith Silkwood and LCpl.Dominic Duplantis — and agreed to defer the proceedings while the prosecution’s resolution is being reviewed by the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Dilag said the deferment of proceedings and the recall of the arrest warrant was mandated under the VFA, which gives the accused US servicemen a statutory right to petition for a DOJ review.

However, the prosecution led by Jalandoni said the court committed an error when it recalled the warrant of arrest and filed an omnibus motion reiterating that the four accused US Marines should be under the custody of Philippine authorities for them to be considered as having submitted themselves to the jurisdiction of the court.

Jalandoni said that juridically speaking, the US Embassy where the accused Marines are being held, cannot be considered a Philippine territory."

Therefore, the accused servicemen "cannot be considered to be within Philippine jurisdiction despite the filing of a petition," the prosecutor argued.

The court is also set to hear today the prosecution’s motion asking the court to reconsider its previous order and set the arraignment of Smith, who has not filed a motion for review. — With Bebot Sison Jr.